Venezuela’s PDVSA tenders to buy a 300,000 bbl gasoil cargo for June

Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA has launched a tender to buy a 300,00 barrel cargo of gasoil with maximum 0.5 percent sulfur to be received June 12-14, acording to an invitation seen by Reuters on Friday.

This is the second time in recent weeks that PDVSA goes to the open market looking for fuels for its domestic market. Last month it offered to buy a 300,000 barrel cargo of catalytic naphtha and a 300,000 barrel cargo of gasoil for May-June.

The oil company will receive offers until June 6 for this tender and they must refer to gasoil number 2 prices from the U.S. Gulf Coast.

PDVSA’s refining network has had several problems in recent months while gasoil demand by thermoelectrical plants grows, forcing the company to increase imports.

Its main refinery, the Paraguana Refining Center, was operating at 62 percent of its capacity of 955,000 barrels per day (bpd) at the end of May, according to an internal report.